Christian charity: pray for starving Somalia

A Christian charity's urging us to pray for Somalia, where over five million people are starving.

World Vision's speaking as drought and conflict mean 40 per cent of the country are dying because of hunger.

The charity says around 320,000 children under five are acutely malnourished, with 50,000 of them so severely malnourished they risk dying without emergency intervention.

Over 20 per cent of all children under the age of 14 are also contracting TB in the country, which can be fatal. This is up from rates of 12.5 per cent between 2014-2016, signalling that the health situation in Somalia is deteriorating.

World Vision is working in the country to bring emergency relief however it says an ongoing civil war which started in the 1980s is making it difficult to deliver.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network is also predicting that Somalia's rainy season, between April to June 2017, is not predicted to deliver the water required to avert the drought there.

Simon Nyabwengi, World Vision Somalia's national director, said: "The crisis in Somalia risks sliding into yet another famine unless we act urgently and swiftly.

"We are most concerned by indications that the drought and food shortages is exacerbating the levels of tuberculosis (TB) prevalence rates as poor nutrition and access to clean water is affecting communities on a wide scale.

"If Somalia could find a political settlement that brings peace across the country, the country would be set on a stable course to recovery."